4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
One 16-ounce tub marshmallow cream (such as Marshmallow Fluff brand)
DIRECTIONS:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
Beat in one-fourth of the sugar until fluffy, then repeat with the remaining sugar.
Beat in the vanilla, then stir in the marshmallow cream until well blended.
This is tried, and true! It was so easy, and the texture was amazing. I normally prefer a buttercream frosting on my cupcakes, but I think this recipe will become a family favorite!
It has been raining nonstop here in Southern California! I think this is the third day of rain! I have been kept busy though, baking sweet treats, and trying to finish my Christmas Shopping! Yes, I still have a few packages to purchase, and shop for our Christmas Eve Appetizers/Christmas Dinner. We have yet to visit Santa, but I think we will plan on this outing on Wednesday. Yesterday, was a Surprise trip to American Girl, and today I took the kids ice skating. It has been wonderful to simply concentrate my time with them. I do have a couple of Scrapbook assignments, that need to be completed sometime this week, too.
Today, I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes from Barefoot Contessa. They are so easy to make, and so delicious! These would be fantastic for Christmas Breakfast, or simply any day of the week. If I can bake them, anyone can! They are so soft, and full of flaky puff pastry goodness! Here is the recipe for Easy Sticky Buns:
Ingredients:
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped in very large pieces
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (to catch any butter that may ooze over!).
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.
Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2-inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Be careful – they’re hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.
My family loves these sweet rolls of cinnamon, and they only took about 40 minutes to bake, start to finish. I did omit the raisins, and only drizzled chopped pecans on a few of them.
Family,Turkey, Pecan Pie, Dallas Cowboys, and Turkey Cupcakes are all about Family Tradition! May you have a blessed Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, good food, and lots of love!
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Yesterday, I spent the afternoon baking pumpkin bread! I also created some pretty packaging to wrap the delicious loaves. Just a very simple way to express my gratitude to friends this season. My Mother has already tried this recipe, and I knew this one would have a permanent home in our recipe file box.
For this sweet treat ensemble I used Teresa Collins Giving Thanks Collection. I loved the beautiful fall color palette. The wonderful page of expressions were a lovely addition. Of course, I am in a phase of dainty doilies, and clear buttons. I know doilies will find their home on future treat packaging, but not certain why I am in love with the buttons. (Maybe because I have a huge jar on my desk!) They are so subtle, but are the perfect embellishment, for just a bit of detail. A few details: definition of gratitude: grat·i·tude
(grt-td, -tyd)
n.
The state of being grateful; thankfulness.
I added a border of vellum on the middle of the card. I thought the vellum complimented the doilie. Finished the card with some yummy shabby ribbon. (As soon as I can find the etsy shop information, I will share with you.)
I included the recipe for the Pumpkin Bread with my gift ensemble. I decided to make a pocket to tuck in the recipe. At the top of the pocket, I lined with a strip of vellum. With Black Stazon, I stamped the sentiment on the upper right hand corner. This pocket was made with a new die, I recently purchased. It is called the Sizzix Envelope Pocket die. Love, love this die. It is a smaller version of the one I used over & over at Timeless.
Here is a peek of the recipe card, simply typed on the computer.
Detail of the bread packaging. I simply made a sleeve, and embellished with a doilie, and my favorite baking stamp from Unity Stamp Company. It is called Home Baked, and was designed by Samantha Walker. If you love baking, or cooking, this stamp is definitely a must have. It dresses the sweet treat packaging perfectly! I will be using this over, and over this Christmas season. Here is the Pumpkin Bread Recipe that was given to me by my friend Sharon:
Pumpkin Bread
3 cups of sugar 3 1/3 cups of flour
1 cup of oil 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
4 eggs 1 ½ tsp. of salt
2/3 cup of water 1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups of pumpkin 1tsp. of nutmeg
Beat sugar, eggs, and oil
Add water and beat again
Sift dry ingredients and add to egg mixture
Add pumpkin and beat well
Pour into 3 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pans greased pans Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees
This is so yummy, and my new favorite pumpkin bread recipe! Perfect for a morning treat! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does!
This is the first year where I am not involved in Turkey preparations. I have mixed emotions on this. However, I am grateful to be spending a lovely dinner with my brother-n-law, and his lovely wife. So I have focused my energy on baking. Today, it will be Turkey Cupcakes, (annual tradition), apple pie for Miss Gabriela, and finally chocolate cookies. I found a new recipe in Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies New Magazine. I always try a new cookie recipe right at Thanksgiving. This will help me decide which cookies the girls, and I will bake this Christmas Season.
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful day of baking, cooking, creating or simply relaxing! Have a very sweet day,
t
-t
d
, -ty